Baudi deploys new Blockchain-as-a-Service platform
China’s search engine giant Baidu recently deployed a Blockchain as-a-Service (BaaS) called Baidu Trust.
Blockchain refers to a technology that enables users to make transactions online. The technology consists of records called blocks, which are strung together and secured using cryptography. Blockchain grew in popularity with the rise of the digital currency Bitcoin, which Baidu embraced early. Additionally, the company joined the Hyperledger Project in late 2015, an encompassing project of open source blockchains and related tools started by the Linux Foundation.
The new Baidu Trust platform leverages an organization’s technology to perform and trace transactions with use cases like digital currency, insurance management and financial auditing. The company boasts the platform’s openness and customizability. Registrations are currently available to the public, with blockchain nodes that can be tailored and deployed.
“Efficient and low cost traceability and trading, ideal for digital currency, payment and settlement, digital ticketing, bank credit management, equity proof and exchange-traded securities, insurance management, financial auditing and more,” notes the website for the recently launched platform. Baidu said it is exploring the use of blockchain technology in other areas as well, such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (A.I.) autonomous cars and distributed computing.
The BaaS has been operational since 2017, during which it entered private beta testing. The company said the platform has been successfully used for asset securitization and asset exchange, touting it as the “first asset-backed securities exchange products using blockchain technology in China.”
The news follows in the foot trails of Chinese Internet conglomerate Tencent deploying its own blockchain service package a couple months ago. In a forum in Chengdu in November 2017, Tencent’s Vice President of Payment Platform and Financial Applications Guo Rui said, “We independently developed a complete set of bottom-layer blockchain protocols and actively participated in the formulation of credible blockchain standards for China Institute of Information and Communications.”
